James Potter and the Half Blood Hallway

Twenty - six

Hagrid stood before them, wide eyed.
"Funny story," said Jackson. "I'm a half - blood." Hagrid raised an eye brow at him, as if to say I already knew that. Then, after a moment, his eyes somehow got even bigger.
"Yer a 'alf - blood!" he shouted. "Yer a 'alf - blood!"
"Yeah," said Percy quietly.
"Yer a 'alf - blood!" shouted Hagrid, louder.
"Sh!" hissed Jackson. "Alert all the monsters why don't you?"
"Yer a 'alf - blood," whispered Hagrid. "I shou' 'ave known! I thoght there was somthin' strange 'bout yeh!"
"But no one else can know," said Percy. Hagrid nodded.
"Al'right," he said. "Come ter ma hut. We can 'alk more 'bout this there." Percy nodded. They followed Hagrid back out of the forest, though neither of them saw the second year boy, Neville's son, following them.

                      ~***~                                  ~***~                                     ~***~

        Route Longbottom found Rose Weasley in the Gryffindor common room as soon as Professor Jackson, his dad, Scorpius, James, Albus, and Hagrid had slipped into Hagrid's hut, being sure not to be seen.
"What's going on!?" he demaned. She stared at him.
"Pardon?"
"Don't play dumb!" he said. "I know you know! What's going on? What're you and Al, and James playing at with Malfoy? I just saw that thing in the forest! What was it!?"
"What?" she asked, her expression full of worry. "What are you talking about? What thing in the forest? What were you even doing in there?! It's called the Forbidden Forest for a reason!"
"You mean you really don't know?" She shook her head. Route sat down in a confused daze. He was so sure she would've....
"Route!" she yelled, shaking him. "What happened?" He told her what he saw. She frowned. She began pacing. Soon, they were the only ones in the common room. Finally, James and Albus showed. It was well after lights out.

"Where've you been!?" Rose demanded, worry and realif in her voice.
"With Jackson," said James carefully. "And Route's dad...we went to see Hagrid..."
"He says to tell you hi," said Al causually. Rose eyed them suspicously. They looked like they had just seen a nucular explosion. She realised this must have something to do with the prophecy. She wished they could tell her what was going on. It was killing her, not knowing. She sighed.
"Route followed you," she told them. Their expressions got fearful. "He saw that...thing in the forest. I was so worried....I thought..."
"It's alright," inturupted Al. "We were with Jackson and Route's dad."
"What was it?" requisitoned Route.
"We don't know," James told him.
"What's going on?"
"We can't tell you."
"Why not?"
"Er - I can't tell you that either..."
"I'll find out."
"Probably."
"Don't bet I won't."
"Okay."
"I swear, if you don't tell me now, I'll find out on my own."
"Okay."
"I'm going to bed."
"Okay." He went up the boys' dormitory. Rose gave them a weary smile.
"I know you can't tell me," she said. "But I do worry." Then, she went up the girls' dormitory steps, leaving the Potter Brothers standing alone in the common room.

        The next day, Scorpius, James, and Albus were in the library with the Sybilline Book. They had to be extra careful now, as they were never quite sure when Route was hidding about. Once, when they were on their way to the Half Blood Hallway, James caught him following them out of the corner of his eye and suggested they take another way. He had eventually given up then, but not for long. Over the next few days after that, Route Longbottom had become obsessed with finding out what they were up to, and they became all too careful. They made sure not to go into the hall if he was in sight, and to talk in whispers if he was seen near by when they were talking over the prophecies. They had even developed a secret code that only the three of them would understand. There were two ways of communicating with it. One was using taps, each finger representing smething. Another was with symbols of various numbers and inanimate objects. They had been using the tapping version more often than the drawing one, however. At the moment, they were using such code.

Scorpius drew a hat, table, a pair of shoes, a cloke, then gave up as it was taking too long and tapped out Let's try to figure out what we know about the first prophecy.

Okay. James tapped back. We know : "You shall see the halls" means the Half - Blood Hallway.

Albus tapped. And "Others may ask/A leak you shall fail the task" that obviously means Rose and Route

Scorpius : And I think "A hero's mark on the stone" is Summa's Sphere, and "But only you may see the falls" is the painting/ghost.

James: Then, what about "And ashes turn to bone"?

Scorpius: I don't know...

Albus: Maybe Faith or someone will know...maybe we should ask an Apollo kid?

James: I don't like Apollo

Albus: That's alright. He doesn't like you either. Scorpius and Al burst into laughter, earning them glares from both Madam Pince and James.

Scorpius grew serious again. He tapped : Isn't Madam Pomfrey an Apollo kid? Albus jumped up, earning yet another glare from Pince.

Yeah! he tapped excidedly. Let's go see her!

James tapped back. Alright! Calm down!

 

                  ~ ***~                                       ~***~                                      ~***~

        They found her in the Hospital Wing tending to a sleeping student who had broken his arm somehow. She smiled when she saw them.
"Hello, boys. You don't look hurt or sick, what can I do for you?"
"We need to talk," James told her. Her expression grew worrisome.
"Alright, step into my office." They followed her to the back. Her office was a small simple room with a desk facing the large window, overlooking the sick room, a bookshelf opposite of it. Madam Pomfrey put a silencing charm on the door, so that no one would hear them.
"You're a half - blood aren't you?" asked Al. There was no confusion or surprise. She knew what he meant.
"Yes," she said, smiling.
"Are there anymore?" asked Scorpius.
"Yes," said Madam Pomfrey again. "Madam Pince is the daughter of Trivia, the Roman goddess of magic. Filch is the son of Ares the Greek god of war, and formor Herbology teacher Pomona Sprout was a daughter of Demeter, Greek goddess of agriculture."
"Filch is a half - blood?" asked Scorpius in shock. Madam Pomfrey nodded, chuckling at his reaction.
"But, I thought he was a squib!" said Al.
"He is," said Madam Pomfrey. "His mother was a witch."
"Ohh!" She laughed a little.
"Now, what can I do for you?"
"We were wondering if you knew what the line 'And ashes turn to bone' meant," James told her. She frowned thoughtfully.
"No idea," she admitted. "Sorry."
"That's alright," Scorpius told her opdemistically. "We'll figure it out." She smiled at him.
"I'll let you know if I find anything. Good luck!"

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Did I use the right name for the book with the prophecies? If not please let me know in the comments as I am curently too lazy to go back and check thanks! xD